Rochester (CA 124) - Naval Cruise Book

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REQUEST PERMISSION TO COME ABOARD, SIR. AND TI-IUS THE NEW BooT BEGINS HIS SEA-ooINo CAREER. uNctASSlFlED S ROCHESTER CA'l24 .s. - 5 Lhi 8091 MAY x95 1 D DEFERR5 STER I SS ROCHE WDM. coIIIcRuDESP'iC0 I USS HENDERSON l U . EG wa IIINSTA SDXAFRQII I ues EPPERSQII ESTSE IIIF01 l3iShtWIIIxNMEN N 2922361 IIOTPL SEINFPIO 85 X GOWN?-S QN D97 MGRUUESPAC PERSO 4-4,11 XNDC X TWO T0 HENELEQSS X VANXNIEN 00 NNED D 719 ca tar SA tltt X X EPPERSUN iii' cAizA Ai LBEA X va ONE EACH 0 ROCHESTER AT SDIEG0 REGO Ia ElGHTl:-EN T 1 SD new A X DELREP i5 Ttitil 0OD,,f' 0NINl,f-' Ii- PER5,,f OPERXE CAPX-Z'!EllNECl,f U WS UNO Q: W ' NAYISS NAlL tnttlfml foam 19001f9t 0115091 For more than one fourth of the ROCHESTER's crew the 1955 trip to the Far East was a brand new experience. About 325 of the men who manned her in WESTPAC had never been there before. Mostly seventeen and eighteen years old, they have caught on quickly. Where before there was a look of awe at much that went on aboard, now there is a nod of familiarity when someone mentions Yokosuka or Formosa. They have sea stories and souvenirs, and their dungarees have that they've-been-to-the-laundry-dozens-of-times look. But it was not always so. The story of a new recruit reporting to the ROCHESTER starts almost as soon as he steps off the bus or train at training camp in San Diego or Great Lakes. Back in Washington personnel experts are constantly reviewing the Navy's manpower situation, and in the fall of last year they saw that the Pacific Fleet needed men badly. While the recruit was marching on the grinder or attending classes, messages about him were going from the capital to the commanding officer of the recruit camp. The boot would not have understood them if he had seen them. The one which started him on his road to the ROCHESTER said HFURAS COMCRUDESPAC, which is the Navy's abbreviated way of BOOT

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2 WX' ' 1,4 saga! gang... NTERTAINMENT is one of the sailor's biggest problems. Far away from home, sometimes in ports which make Cannery Row look like a paradise, he wants something to while away the off hours. Usually the answer is the movie, Cards, writing letters, reading. But these things get old. That's why a show on the tantail is such a hit. It is different. The one the ROCHESTER has in Keelung in May was really different. The entertainers who came to put on a show for the men ol' the ship were all Chinese, a group of amateurs not unlike our USO entertainers, people who were simply f:ontrihutin1l what they could to their war ehiort. lt they wffwf aniate1,iir'wi, they were f'ei't2lilil.V ilfiflfl fHWf+ ililltf acrobats pulled people to the edge of their seats. and then when they settled back the singers brought them np again. Actually the singers were rather poor as vocalists. But they were good looking, and that meant a lot too. Behind it all there was a reminder ot why we were there. The Master of Ceremonies, a Chinese lieutenant colonel. introduced one girl by explaining that she had promised to marry the first man xi ho steps toot on the mainland. The war which seemed to he tar away to R0t'lflESTER sailors was a matter ot instant 4-ont-ern to the inen and women per- forming, lt was their homeland they had lost. and a lot ot' us had not thought ol' it that may liei'oi'e,

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saying for further assignment by the Commander of Cruisers and Destroyers in the Pacific Fleet. When he was about half way through his training the boot came to the attention of some oflicers aboard COMCRUDESPAC'S iiagship in San Diego harbor. He was theirs for further assignment, and they had the job of deciding which of the ships they are concerned with needed his services worst. Last fall one of their most serious problems was the ROCHESTER, allowed draw mattresses, when to report for muster, what would be expected of them their first week or ten days aboard. Except for the few who had been to sea before, all the new men were assigned to the I Division for a week of tours and lectures scheduled to get them acquainted with their new home. They had much to learn and not much time to learn it. They heard about Navy law, what they could do aboard, what they could not do, what oppor- tunities the Navy offered them for over 1100 men, below allowance, losing more daily, and scheduled to sail for distant duty shortly after the beginning of the year. To meet her commitments she would need men, and lots of them. So ten by ten by twenty the men were allocated to the ROCHESTER-a certain number of fireman apprentices, a certain number of seaman apprentices, some graduates of Class A schools, some skilled in particular fields: Aboard the ROCHESTER the boot was the principal topic of conversation long before he showed up. As the messages Of the 325 new men who reported aboard the ROCHESTER during the fall of 1954 an overwhelming percentage were new recruits. Of these men most received their recruit training at San Diego, though Great Lakes was also re- presented. A large percentage-about one third-came to the Navy from southern states. About twenty percent enlisted for the term of their minority. More than eighty percent were under twenty years of age, and over fifty percent were seventeen and eighteen. The average boot had completed his sophomore year in high school before enlisting in the Navy. education, what the maximum range of the ROCHESTER's batteries isg they saw the turrets and mounts, the engi- neering spaces, the superstructure, the bridge, radio and radar rooms, plotting rooms, equipment which makes the ROCHESTER's guns fire. They met officers who told them about ship's re- gulations, church services aboard, the history of the ROCHESTER, and standing watches. They learned not to stamp out cigarette butts on the deck and not to waste fresh water. They found out what liberty they could expect. kept coming in and the total number grew, division officers made mental calculations on how many they might expect to help man battle stations and keep routine work going. Petty officers smiled as they thought of extra help in keeping the ship clean. It was good to know that the tight manpower situation was about to be relieved. The job of assigning men to depart- ments and divisions within the ship is that of the Executive Officer. Working with figures and tables of personnel requirements, he mapped out a plan for dividing the men who were to report. ,e Everyone was short, but fire control ' .Q technicians and radarmen were needed the most. Thus F and OI divisions R were to have first crack. Gunnery was short, critically undermanned. Engi- neering needed men. They were slated to receive their proportionate share of the recruits. The Training Officer was given the job of setting up an indoctri- nation program for the new men and planning interviews which would be the basis for assignment of each particular man. Before the new sailors started showing up heads of departments knew how many they were to get. Everyone remembers the first day he spent aboard the ROCHESTER. For those of us whose first ship she was it was a bewildering experience. The recruits arrived by twos and threes, tens and twenties, usually in the late evening. Sitting on a foggy, cold dock in Long Beach they must have wonder- ed what was waiting for them. They were greeted by men who told them where to stow their gear, where to -f .35 While they were seeing their new home the Training Officer and chief personnelman were going over their service records, trying to fit individual men to the chart dictated by the needs of the ship. Which of them would make the best radarmen, which the best machinist's mates? Using information furnished coNnNuso ON PAGE 27 'facie' Q, . t. WEEKLY MEETINGS with the Executive Officer give heads of departments and their assistants a chance to hash over some of the problems concerning the draft of new men. Various requirements are discussed and decisions as to placement of men are made. 0 E ABU RD